Allston, Mass. -- The 2017 Massachusetts Selects League All-Star Showcase took place today at Harvard's Bright Hockey Center. An inaugural event for the league, it turned out to be a good one. It was well organized, and run efficiently. The players had matching jerseys and socks, programs had all the necessary info, and the Harvard rink is always a fine place for a game.

The scoring stats for each of the three games are below. (Note: goalie stats were not provided.) We also have some brief notes on the games. A number of committed players were good, as we would expect; we've written about them frequently in the past and will almost certainly continue doing so in the coming year, assuming they don't totally fall off the map, that is.

***15 and Under All-Star Game:

We thought goaltender Jack Byrne (Cumberland HS/Terriers) was the game's best goalie. It was a little hard to judge goalies as each team had three, and each played a period. But we liked Byrne.

Team National defenseman Matt Petito, a 5'9" LD from Wakefield HS and the N.S. Wings, is an agile, smooth skater with raw talent. Up front Tom Rooney (Catholic Memorial/CC Whalers and the son of CM head coach Larry Rooney) was a standout, scoring two goals, one off the rush and the second a nice top-shelf tally. 5'11" LC Jake Waterman (Mount St. Charles/SS Kings), was kept off the scoreboard, but is a quick, smooth skater.

Team American was led by 5'11" RD Matthew Beniers (Milton Academy/CC Whalers). We have written about Beniers before and he never disappoints. A strong skater with a high hockey IQ, Beniers knows where to be and he knows where his teammates are. Very aware. Will contribute right away at Milton, where his older brother Bobby graduated last spring. Brett Berard (Bishop Hendricken/CC Whalers), the son of Holy Cross coach Dave Berard, is also extremely good. Berard, who is only 5'5" and 135 lbs. and whose game will emerge further as he gains strength, has a great stick, passing ability, and strong sense of the game. He's committed to Providence College. As noticeeable as they were, both Beniers and Berard were kept off the scoresheet.

On Team National, we throught their defensemen did a good job, most particularly 6'0" LD Kevin McKay (Dexter /CC Whalers) and 6'0" RD Ryan McDermott (St. Sebastian's/CC Whalers). 6'1" RD Jake Higgins (Hinghan HS/CC Whalers) also played well. Up front, we liked 6'0" forward Riley Duran, a power forward type at Malden Catholic, and 6"0" Joseph Kramer (BC High/CC Whalers), who should follow in the footsteps of his brothers, and Max Bogdanovich (Junior Bruins) is a 6'3", 175 lb. power forward who will get plenty of looks with size like that.

Up front Kyle Penney, a returning junior at Kimball Union led the way with a pair of goals. Kimball Union newcomer Matthew Egan, a 6'0" LC power foreward type was also very effective. Matthew Toporowski, a 6'2" '00 going to St. Mark's was interesting, though we need to see him more. The best player in the game, hands-down, was Thayer Academy senior RC Jay O'Brien. Of course, we expect that from him.

All of last season’s news, rosters, schedules, and stats have been archived, and new material will start going into this season’s pages immediately, as coaches begin to upload their teams' schedules.

We want to alert readers to some new features we introduced last season. Most are invisible, technical, behind-the-scenes performance improvements that will make the site run faster and more efficiently.

Others will be visible.

We've improved players' career prep stats. In the past, if you clicked on a player’s name the page that opened would show his final statistics for all the seasons he has played prep hockey and, of course, running totals for the current season. It still does, but now, if said player transfers schools, his page will reflect that. Also, if you click on a given year, say 2016-17, it will show the player's game-by-game statistics. Just click on the "Breakdown" tab and choose the year.

We've also added penalty minutes.

It is also possible to download rosters, schedules, and all statistics pages in PDF form, which has the added benefit of giving pages a cleaner look when printed out.

Pretty much all columns are sortable. Just click on the top. This is useful for, among other things, separating scoring and goaltending leaders by school, birth year, position, points, etc.

Another good trick to use for searches from any of the various stats page is simply to hit the letter "s" and it will automatically open the small search box as well as place the cursor in it for you. Then just start typing. It's terrific for looking for a player or school.

Once we have a reasonable number of schedules posted, we will begin to keep you updated, so you won’t waste your time looking for those that have not yet been uploaded.

We will also begin posting jamboree and holiday tournament schedules. Look for those to start going up immediately. Note to coaches: send 'em along, please.

We are also accepting advertising for the upcoming season. Please write information(at)ushr.com for rates.

Of course, we will have the news coverage you have come to expect. We will also have a few new journalistic features, to be added shortly.

Welcome to the new season, our 22nd since we switched from paper to the Internet. We're glad to be here. We’re glad you’re here. And, as always, we thank you for your support.

Tues. 10/24/17

Halloween Weekend

The Beantown Fall Classic starts this Thursday, Oct. 26th and runs through Sunday the 29th. All games -- U18s, U16s, and U15s -- will be played at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Mass.

Here is the link to the schedule. We expect to have the rosters for you in a couple of days.

***East Coast Classics (U14, U13) will be holding its Prep Cup this weekend, Fri. Oct. 27 through Sun. Oct. 29, at a number of different rinks. The U14 Red Division (12 teams) will be Central Massachusetts-based and will play out of the Winchendon School and the Wallace Civic Center (Fitchburg, Mass.).

The U13 White Division (14 teams) and the U14 White Division (8 teams) will be based in Western Massachusetts and will be playing games at both rinks at UMass (practice arena and Mullins Arena) as well as Williston-Northampton and Westminster Schools.

We'll have the rosters and full schedule for you in a couple of days.

Thurs. 10/12/17

East Coast College Cup Program Book

The East Coast College Cup will be hosting its annual 18U, 16U, 15U, and 14U tournament this weekend (Fri.-Sun. Oct. 13-15), mostly at various rinks in and around New Haven, Conn.

The primary venue is the three-sheet Northford Ice Pavilion.

All U14 games will be played farther north, at the Westminster School.

The 2017 New Hampshire Fall Showcase will face off this weekend, Sat.-Sun., Oct. 14-15).

The tournament -- for U15s, U16s, and U18s -- will take place at various venues in New Hampshire, primarily the Ice Den (Hooksett) and Sullivan Arena at Saint Anselm College (Goffstown). Other rinks include the West Side Arena (Manchester), the Rinks at Exeter, and the New Hampton School.

The Mass Selects Annual Columbus Day Showcase will be held this weekend (Fri.through Mon., Oct. 6-9), with games at Warrior Ice Arena (Boston), Harvard's Bright Arena (Allston, Mass.), and NorthStar Arena (Westborough, Mass.).

The tournament, which includes over 40 teams at the U15, U16, and U18 levels, will include three all-star games, to be played Sunday October 8th at Harvard. The game times are 10:40 am for the U15s, 12:15 pm for the U18s, and 2:00 pm for the U16s.

The roster book for the All-Star games, which are dedicated to the memory of Don Parsons and Corey Griffin, is included below.

Also included is a master schedule and a press release from the Mass Selects which, among other things, lists top committed and uncommitted players.

The BEAST Tournament Series is coming to Walpole's Rodman Arena this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7-8.

The five regular members of the league -- Mid-Fairfield, Neponset Valley River Rats, North Jersey Avalanche, Yale Youth Hockey, and the Boston Jr. Eagles -- will send teams at the U15, U16, and U18 levels.

The Philadelphia Jr. Flyers, an affiliate member, will also have its U15, U16, and U18 teams on hand.

Selects Academy, a guest member, will have its U15, U16, and U18 teams on hand,

The Rochester Coalition will have its U15 team taking part.

The 10-game league schedule will conclude with playoffs on the weekend of Oct 28-29, also at Rodman Arena.

Note: While all 14 games on Saturday will be at Rodman, on Sunday 13 of 17 games will be there, so double-check your schedule if you go on that day.